I have a sandpoint well. When I turn the tap on, the pump starts immediately with good pressure but the pressure drops off very quickly. I have checked the bladder and it seems okay. The pump takes 5 - 10 minutes to get back up to pressure (60PSI). When the pump runs, it sounds grainy. I am wondering if it might be a crack in the impellers causing the long pump time. Once the pump starts, I cannot get back to pressure unless I close the taps, wait a minute, then turn them back on. How can I check the impellers on the pump? My thoughts are that if it's not the impeller, I might have a low water level in the sandpoint. Any feedback would be appreciated. I've attached a pic. It's a Berkeley Model 5HS.

Help anyone?

I'll take a crack at this. The first thing I noticed is that you said the pump cuts on "immediately" after you turn on a tap. That should generally not happen. You should have a reserve in your tank of at least five or six gallons that gets used before the pump has to cut on to bring your pressure back up. Then you said that the pressure continues to drop even though the pump is on. That tells me your pump cannot keep up with even one faucet being on, which is not good. So, I would look at:

1. The bladder tank. How did you check it to make sure it was good?
2. Pump volume. You have a flexible connection coming off the pump. If it's long enough, pull it from the other end and let the pump run into a five gallon bucket. Check the specs on your pump as to gpm it's supposed to deliver and see if it's meeting that figure. I'm going to bet it is not.
3. I'm not a jet pump pro, but if I was you and wanted to look at the impellers, I would remove the four bolts holding the motor to the impeller housing and see if it comes off in something approaching an easy fashion. That should allow you to see the impellers.

I was not able to find any info on a Berkeley 5HS pump on the web.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try that later this weekend and post a reply.

Thanks again,